Scientific name:Velox Validus literally meaning "fast, strong" in Latin.
Description:
The Mighty Crocodile, also known as "Mighty" for short is a new species of crocodiles that have come from their ancestors: the saltwater crocodiles. Unlike the saltwater crocodile, this new species are permanent land reptiles. The Mighty Crocodile looks similar to the saltwater crocodile except for a few differences due to factors of land and climate change. Some simlarities are that the Mighty Crocodiles have the body of a saltwater crocodile, irregular teeth with a few larger than the rest that show out when the jaw is closed. Differences that have changed over time are that these reptiles have longer legs to run with, claws on their feet to help them walk and have a good grip when on the land, a shorter tail as they do not need to use it for swimming and a narrow snout because they need to move around quickly on land. This future animal is slightly smaller than a normal saltwater crocodile and therefore faster and quicker at reacting. These Mighties are stronger than saltwater crocodiles as they have more muscle build up to be able to be active on the land. This is the main reason for how the name "The Mighty Crocodile" derived.
Crocodiles have changed little since the time of the dinosaurs/Cretaceous period because of its well-structured body. This brings to the conclusion that not many features will change in the future too, if the body of the crocodile has been successful for so many years.
Habitat
Map of where Mighties are found
The Mighty Crocodile lives on land with shrubs and not much water. Source: http://ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/wildlife/images/habitat/landowner_incentive_program/kollar2.jpg
The Mighty Crocodiles is an Australian land animal. They live around the coastal areas of eastern Australia in parts of New South Wales and Queensland. They live near areas of rivers and swamps for water although they mainly roam around dry land as water has become more and more less due to changes in the Earth's climate. Australia's waters and lakes will begin to disappear and be replaced with dry land because of the dramatic change in environment over time.
In the future, as years pass by, rapid changes in the climate will occur due to the great use of chemicals and gases produced by humans (from factories, power plants, vehicles, etc.) that have damaged the natural environment including trees, plants, air and water. Global warming will eventually lead to the drying up of the swamps and rivers, and slowly, saltwater crocodiles will have nowhere to go but live on land.
Because of the different habitat that the Mighty Crocodile lives in compared with the modern day saltwater crocodile, they feed on different prey as a living. As a land animal, the Mighties have adapted to finding food that are available in this area. These include other land animals that are or similar to dingoes, kangaroos, and smaller animals such as rabbits and moles. This future animal are on top of the food chain. They do not have many predators because of their quick, powerful, strong body and reactions.
Other animals that live around this area of eastern Australia are kangaroos, dingoes, possums, rabbits, snakes, lizards and other animals that have grown to live in the outback. It does not rain very much and the climate is hot and dry. There are a few ponds of water where the Might Crocodile drink from. They do not need to drink water often as the Mighty Crocodile has grown to adapt to this type of environment by being able to absorb heat through their rough scaly skin.
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Crocodylia
Family
Crocodylidae
Genus
Velox
Species
Validus
Labelled Diagram of the Mighty Crocodile:
Labelled Diagram of The Mighty Crocodile
Adaptions:
Structural 1: Longer, Mighty Legs
With their new structure of legs, these new crocodiles are born to be a runner, unlike any other modern day crocodile that just lays around lazily in the sun. Their ancestors, the saltwater crocodile, had legs that made their body touch the ground. Their legs were positioned like a push-up position. Those legs acted so that the crocodiles roamed around its territory in a slow and unhurried manner. This is not, in the case of the Mighty Crocodiles, as for their name, the saltwater crocodiles have evolved into an animal that is strong and can run. The Mighty Crocodile's legs are posititioned so that the croc's body is lifted high off the ground and the legs are longer with muscles in them to help support the weight of the crocodile. These legs can carry the Mighty Crocodile through a speed of 100km/hr maximum. This speed is considered quite fast as earlier existed crocodiles could neither run let alone travel at a walking speed. With this strange and yet useful adaption, the Mighty Crocodile is able to catch prey on land, run away from unexpected situations faster and most of all, able to travel from place to place on land easier. Although the legs of a Mighty Crocodile are thick and stubby, they are strong and can shoo away animals that have come to distub their territory with just a kick of their hind legs.
Structural 2: Short Tail
The Might Crocodile has a short tail due to the fact that it does not need the usually long and power tail of a saltwater crocodile's to help them to swim and move through the water quickly. The shorter tail helps to balance the Mighty's weight when it stands up or walk around. Without a long, heavy tail, the Mighty Crocodile is able to run around faster because there is no weight to drag it by slowing. A short tail is of advantage mainly when the Mighty Crocodile have to run because it makes them travel much faster and that the tail is not in the way when they run. The environmental pressure that may have altered the size of the tail is due to the Mighty's habitat on the dry land.
Behavioural 1: Catching Their Prey
The Mighty Crocodile catches their prey by sneaking up on them behind trees before appearing to attack them. Previously, saltwater ccrocodiles have been known to catch their prey by using the "death toll". This was they way of lurking underneath the waters of riverbanks while eyeing their prey and suddenly pounce out of the water, grab and pull they prey back into the water where the crocodile will feast on it. For Mighties, when they see a prey, they hide behind trees or bushes or shrubs, always keeping their eyes on the animal. When they are sure that it is safe, then the Mighty will slowly creep up to them and pounce firstly biting on their neck for the kill. When the animal is dead, they carry it the corpse to a clearing and eat it on its own. The Mighty Crocodile is very independent and when another comes to attempt to take the body from one, they will fight.
Behavioural 2: FindingFood Underground
The Mighty Crocodile uses its narrow nuzzle as a tool for digging. Because it is a land animal and lives in a place where larger animals are harder to find or catch, they turn to another adaption: digging underground to find food. The best time for the Mighty Crocodiles to dig is after it rains as the soil gets damp and soft from the water. By using their snout, they can dig through the soft soil and use their long snouts to catch their prey; small rabbits or moles. They dig through the soft soil by using their snout as a type of spade. They dig their snouts into the soil continuously and push away any soil that gets in their way. Because of its fairly large size compared to a rabbit, the Mighy cannot put its whole head underground to look for food. Only their snout goes undergrond while they search for the presence of other animals that are hiding in the soil. With their strong sense of smell from their nostrils situated on top of their snouts, they can search for the scents of animals in the soil. Rabbits and moles may have already scurried away further underground at the sound of the Mighty Crocodile but they would not have been able to carry all their young away and that is what the Mighty Crocodile usually get to feed on. Once they have found food, they snatch it with their long and narrow mouth and take as many as it can in its mouh before pulling its snout back up to the surface to feast on their prey.
Physiological: Able to Store Water Like a Camel
The Mighty Crocodile drinks water from small lakes and swamps. Most of the water has been dried up due to climate/environment factors but this is not of concern because they can store water for around 28 days as they have a special fat in their stomach to store the water. This is similar in the way how camels store water in their humps to adapt to desert conditions. In camels, they have body fat in their humps while in the Mighty Crocodile, they have a similar fatty substance in their stomach instead of humps in the case of camels. This physiological adaption is very helpful due to the fact that the waters of lakes and swamps are drying up which lessens the availibility of water. The environmental pressure that have changed the Mighty Crocodile to contain a body fat in their stomach to store water is due to the lack of water in lakes and swamps in their landscape surroundings.
Scientific name: Velox Validus literally meaning "fast, strong" in Latin.
Description:
The Mighty Crocodile, also known as "Mighty" for short is a new species of crocodiles that have come from their ancestors: the saltwater crocodiles. Unlike the saltwater crocodile, this new species are permanent land reptiles. The Mighty Crocodile looks similar to the saltwater crocodile except for a few differences due to factors of land and climate change. Some simlarities are that the Mighty Crocodiles have the body of a saltwater crocodile, irregular teeth with a few larger than the rest that show out when the jaw is closed. Differences that have changed over time are that these reptiles have longer legs to run with, claws on their feet to help them walk and have a good grip when on the land, a shorter tail as they do not need to use it for swimming and a narrow snout because they need to move around quickly on land. This future animal is slightly smaller than a normal saltwater crocodile and therefore faster and quicker at reacting. These Mighties are stronger than saltwater crocodiles as they have more muscle build up to be able to be active on the land. This is the main reason for how the name "The Mighty Crocodile" derived.
Crocodiles have changed little since the time of the dinosaurs/Cretaceous period because of its well-structured body. This brings to the conclusion that not many features will change in the future too, if the body of the crocodile has been successful for so many years.
Habitat
In the future, as years pass by, rapid changes in the climate will occur due to the great use of chemicals and gases produced by humans (from factories, power plants, vehicles, etc.) that have damaged the natural environment including trees, plants, air and water. Global warming will eventually lead to the drying up of the swamps and rivers, and slowly, saltwater crocodiles will have nowhere to go but live on land.
Because of the different habitat that the Mighty Crocodile lives in compared with the modern day saltwater crocodile, they feed on different prey as a living. As a land animal, the Mighties have adapted to finding food that are available in this area. These include other land animals that are or similar to dingoes, kangaroos, and smaller animals such as rabbits and moles. This future animal are on top of the food chain. They do not have many predators because of their quick, powerful, strong body and reactions.
Other animals that live around this area of eastern Australia are kangaroos, dingoes, possums, rabbits, snakes, lizards and other animals that have grown to live in the outback. It does not rain very much and the climate is hot and dry. There are a few ponds of water where the Might Crocodile drink from. They do not need to drink water often as the Mighty Crocodile has grown to adapt to this type of environment by being able to absorb heat through their rough scaly skin.
Scientific Classification:
Labelled Diagram of the Mighty Crocodile:
Adaptions:
Structural 1: Longer, Mighty Legs
With their new structure of legs, these new crocodiles are born to be a runner, unlike any other modern day crocodile that just lays around lazily in the sun. Their ancestors, the saltwater crocodile, had legs that made their body touch the ground. Their legs were positioned like a push-up position. Those legs acted so that the crocodiles roamed around its territory in a slow and unhurried manner. This is not, in the case of the Mighty Crocodiles, as for their name, the saltwater crocodiles have evolved into an animal that is strong and can run. The Mighty Crocodile's legs are posititioned so that the croc's body is lifted high off the ground and the legs are longer with muscles in them to help support the weight of the crocodile. These legs can carry the Mighty Crocodile through a speed of 100km/hr maximum. This speed is considered quite fast as earlier existed crocodiles could neither run let alone travel at a walking speed. With this strange and yet useful adaption, the Mighty Crocodile is able to catch prey on land, run away from unexpected situations faster and most of all, able to travel from place to place on land easier. Although the legs of a Mighty Crocodile are thick and stubby, they are strong and can shoo away animals that have come to distub their territory with just a kick of their hind legs.
Structural 2: Short Tail
The Might Crocodile has a short tail due to the fact that it does not need the usually long and power tail of a saltwater crocodile's to help them to swim and move through the water quickly. The shorter tail helps to balance the Mighty's weight when it stands up or walk around. Without a long, heavy tail, the Mighty Crocodile is able to run around faster because there is no weight to drag it by slowing. A short tail is of advantage mainly when the Mighty Crocodile have to run because it makes them travel much faster and that the tail is not in the way when they run. The environmental pressure that may have altered the size of the tail is due to the Mighty's habitat on the dry land.
Behavioural 1: Catching Their Prey
The Mighty Crocodile catches their prey by sneaking up on them behind trees before appearing to attack them. Previously, saltwater ccrocodiles have been known to catch their prey by using the "death toll". This was they way of lurking underneath the waters of riverbanks while eyeing their prey and suddenly pounce out of the water, grab and pull they prey back into the water where the crocodile will feast on it. For Mighties, when they see a prey, they hide behind trees or bushes or shrubs, always keeping their eyes on the animal. When they are sure that it is safe, then the Mighty will slowly creep up to them and pounce firstly biting on their neck for the kill. When the animal is dead, they carry it the corpse to a clearing and eat it on its own. The Mighty Crocodile is very independent and when another comes to attempt to take the body from one, they will fight.
Behavioural 2: Finding Food Underground
The Mighty Crocodile uses its narrow nuzzle as a tool for digging. Because it is a land animal and lives in a place where larger animals are harder to find or catch, they turn to another adaption: digging underground to find food. The best time for the Mighty Crocodiles to dig is after it rains as the soil gets damp and soft from the water. By using their snout, they can dig through the soft soil and use their long snouts to catch their prey; small rabbits or moles. They dig through the soft soil by using their snout as a type of spade. They dig their snouts into the soil continuously and push away any soil that gets in their way. Because of its fairly large size compared to a rabbit, the Mighy cannot put its whole head underground to look for food. Only their snout goes undergrond while they search for the presence of other animals that are hiding in the soil. With their strong sense of smell from their nostrils situated on top of their snouts, they can search for the scents of animals in the soil. Rabbits and moles may have already scurried away further underground at the sound of the Mighty Crocodile but they would not have been able to carry all their young away and that is what the Mighty Crocodile usually get to feed on. Once they have found food, they snatch it with their long and narrow mouth and take as many as it can in its mouh before pulling its snout back up to the surface to feast on their prey.
Physiological: Able to Store Water Like a Camel
The Mighty Crocodile drinks water from small lakes and swamps. Most of the water has been dried up due to climate/environment factors but this is not of concern because they can store water for around 28 days as they have a special fat in their stomach to store the water. This is similar in the way how camels store water in their humps to adapt to desert conditions. In camels, they have body fat in their humps while in the Mighty Crocodile, they have a similar fatty substance in their stomach instead of humps in the case of camels. This physiological adaption is very helpful due to the fact that the waters of lakes and swamps are drying up which lessens the availibility of water. The environmental pressure that have changed the Mighty Crocodile to contain a body fat in their stomach to store water is due to the lack of water in lakes and swamps in their landscape surroundings.